Friday 7.11
Belleville American Music Festival
Belleville Community Park in Belleville, 4 pm-midnight.
Also Saturday, July 12, noon-midnight
Sonny Landreth headlines Friday night, and Fleetwood Mac's Jeremy Spencer does the honors Saturday at this comfortable al fresco celebration of guitar-friendly blues and Americana. Other performers include Robben Ford and Larry McCray.
La Fete de Marquette
50 S. Baldwin St., 5-11 pm. Also Thursday (4-10 pm), Saturday (noon-11 pm) and Sunday (noon-9 pm), July 10, 12 & 13
Moved to a new location, the free, French-flavored festival expands to four days this year. The international musical lineup includes Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, the Iguanas, Les Breastfeeders, Dobet Gnahoré, Les Primitifs du Futur, Brazzaville, Dengue Fever, Fallou Dieng, Lafayette Rhythm Devils, Rosie Ledet and Dumpstaphunk. There will be food, art and, on July 10, a special membership meeting of the Willy Street Co-op.
Tom Sargeant
Grace Chosy Gallery, through Aug. 2. Reception: 6-8 pm The painter's layered and heavily worked surfaces seek beauty in imperfection.
Chazen Exhibitions
Chazen Museum of Art
The Chazen opens two shows based on couples' collections. "A Shared Taste," donated by Janice and Jean-Pierre Golay, ranges from textiles to paintings to sculpture to prints. (A reception is held from 6:30-8:30 pm on Friday, July 11, preceded by a 5:30 pm talk with the collectors.) "Modernist Sculpture," donated by Terese and Alvin S. Lane, features sculpture and assemblages by the likes of Picasso, Calder and Nevelson.
Salman Rushdie
Borders Books West, 7 pm
Rushdie is the brilliant author of Midnight's Children and Shame, not to mention the eloquent free-speech advocate forced underground when Iran issued a fatwa following the publication of The Satanic Verses. He'll discuss his latest novel, The Enchantress of Florence, in the local literary event of the summer.
Microcosm Publishing
Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative, 7 pm
The indie publisher specializes in radical zines, books, buttons, T-shirts, posters and films. Its tour features filmmaker Joe Biel (Plan It X), author Dave Roche (On Subbing) and animal-liberation activist Chris Lynch.
Organ Festival
Overture Center's Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
The Madison Symphony Orchestra showcases its glorious 4,000-pipe organ in the annual festival. It includes a recital on Friday night by the great Frederick Swann, known for his associations with California's Crystal Cathedral and New York City's Riverside Church. He performs works by Bach and Saint-Saëns; he also leads a free community hymn sing on Saturday, July 12, at 11 am.
Blitz IX
Bartell Theatre, 8 pm. Also Saturday, July 12, 8 pm
Mercury Players Theater presents short plays written, designed and rehearsed over the course of 24 hours. There's nothing like a little pressure -- okay, a lot of pressure -- to get the creative juices flowing.
Blueheels
High Noon Saloon, 9:30 pm
Robbie Schiller's mournful Midwestern vocals match up perfectly with the Blueheels' precision roots-rock arrangements. On the undercard, bittersweet folk-rocker Jentri Colello celebrates the release of a CD.
Saturday 7.12
Art Fair on the Square
Capitol Square, 9 am-6 pm. Also Sunday, July 13, 10 am-5 pm
The fundraiser for the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art celebrates its 50th anniversary, having grown from a shopping-mall sidewalk sale to a nationally recognized juried fair featuring almost 500 artists. The fair goes green this year, and also beefs up activities for kids. Other than that, expect the usual cheek-by-jowl crowds peering at paintings, photographs, prints, sculpture, jewelry, handmade clothing and the odd unclassifiable object. Live music includes Strive, Natty Nation and Lou & Peter Berryman.
Capitol Square, 9 am-6 pm. Also Sunday, July 13, 10 am-5 pm
This is the local complement to the Art Fair on the Square, with 140 Wisconsin artists and craftspeople showing their high-quality work. The Art Fair Off the Square also offers children's entertainment, a public art project and refreshments. The featured artist is watercolorist Kat Beyer.
Poison
Willow Island at the Alliant Energy Center, 7 pm
The kings of commercial hair metal are a bit wizened these days, but it's nothing that a little pancake base and artfully applied rouge can't take care of. They're joined by fellow '80s hard-rockers Dokken and Sebastian Bach of Skid Row.
Madison Early Music Festival
Concerts at Mills Hall in the UW Humanities Building, 7:30 pm
This year's celebration of medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music offers an array of classes, lectures and concerts emphasizing the music of George Frideric Handel. This week's concerts feature the Newberry Consort with Marion Verbruggen (Saturday), Tempesta di Mare (Sunday), Quicksilver (Tuesday) and festival faculty (Thursday). 6:30 pm lectures precede each performance.
Capitol City Tattoo Anniversary Party
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
Capitol City Tattoo presents an ear-splitting rock 'n' roll revel to celebrate its eighth year on the planet. Monumentally heavy North Carolina stoner vets Weedeater headline a full night of pummeling guitar-based action that also includes appearances by Art of the Flesh, Dead End Rejects and Halcyon.
Owls
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9:30 pm
Minneapolis' Owls may be too polite for this big beer garden. But that's not a knock on their ethereal, boy-girl-fronted indie-rock, which can be so gorgeous it hurts. Kaiser Cartel opens.
LA Riots
Majestic Theatre, 10 pm
The noisy up-and-coming remixers, who've reimagined work by Weezer and Madonna, hit the Majestic's sound system hard before embarking on a summer's worth of parties and festivals that are apt to make them dance-floor stars. OCD Automatic is also on the bill.
Les Breastfeeders
Frequency, 10 pm
Remember when Plastic Bertrand was the toast of French New Wave? So do Montreal's Les Breastfeeders, relentlessly carefree garage-rockers who, much like the Hives, won't rest until everyone in the club is grinning from ear to ear.
Lucha Libre
Annex, 10 pm
The local reggaeton/hip-hop trio is sure to get you all hot and sweaty at this dance-friendly release party for its exuberant CD The Takeover.
Sunday 7.13
Pie Palooza
RP's Pasta Fork and Spoon Café, 1133 E. Wilson St., 10 am-1 pm
Local farmers and chefs put together a brunch with a huge selection of sweet and savory pies. Participants include L'Etoile, Harvest, Lombardino's, Willy Street Co-op, Sucre, Crema Café, Mermaid Café and the Dardanelles. Proceeds benefit REAP, the nonprofit that promotes a healthy and sustainable local food system. The event will be (literally) a slice of heaven.
Second Sundays
Paoli House Gallery in Paoli, 2 pm
Paoli House Gallery inaugurates a series of book signings, performances, discussions and readings. The first installment presents a talk by Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton on women and the visual arts.
Lyle Lovett & His Large Band
Overture Center's Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
Lovett's burnished folk, gospel, country and blues get kicked up a notch whenever his all-pro Large Band is providing the musical backdrop. No doubt the deadpan Texan will take full advantage of this plush hall's accommodating acoustics.
Groundation
Annex, 9 pm
Jazz, reggae and brain-massaging dub ebb and flow majestically in these big-eared Californians' mighty live sets. Tropical Riddims Sound System opens.
